About

Why We Set Up This Site

Have you ever sat with a group of filmmakers and actors during a lunch break on set? You will hear all manner of interesting discussions about the way actors and filmmakers are treated during the making of professional and micro-budget films. And about the way people are taken advantage of – or even outright scammed – as they try to get started in the industry.

Our small group of writers, performers and filmmakers have heard these stories in abundance. We set up this site to help actors make informed decisions and filmmakers consider easily overlooked areas.

Actors

Sometimes people declare they have given up all paid employment to become an actor. Often this is before they have a good CV or showreel – and then they are surprised to find they can’t walk straight into a TV role or commercial. They often saw all the advertised roles on casting websites and didn’t realise how many people were applying for each of those listed roles. Micro-budget short films are a good way to get an acting career started, but even that takes a lot of networking.

Filmmakers

Filmmakers can make the mistake of thinking a film related degree course will open all the doors they need. This time needs to be spent accumulating a portfolio of COMPLETED short films which have been submitted to film festivals as often as possible. Unpaid work on professional sets, combined with a homegrown network of actors and filmmakers from micro-budget short films is needed just to get to the starting post. And that means picking up excellent skills in advertising roles, auditioning well and budgeting carefully.

Child Actors

Tens of thousands of children across the country are working on unpaid and professional projects each year. There are strict laws which regulate where they can be and who can be looking after them. However, filmmakers are often unaware of these rules – even relevant degree courses often fail to cover this area in the syllabus. Meanwhile, hopeful parents are confronted with a long list of costs. They may be told these will get their children’s acting career started; but many of these costs are unnecessary.

How We Fund The Films On A Shoestring Website

We aren’t selling our services or expanding our networks. We just want to help creative people get better at what they do.

Yes, the site’s adverts can be annoying. They bring in (literally) pennies which we invest in site maintenance. It’s a way for us to keep the site going without using up our filmmaking reserves, and costs you nothing but a second of your viewing time.

Finding Your Way Round Films On A Shoestring

We don’t allow comments or subscribers because it attracts spam. But you can get in touch via our Facebook page.

Finally, we hope you find lots of useful advice here. Search through the categories in the menu bar. Good luck achieving your goals!